Sisterly favors
by T.E.D.S
Summary: One-shot, contains alternate endings. Bellatrix Lestrange once again goes back in time to see her Squib twin. But this time, she wants something from her.


_A/N: Aquilla comes from my story „All the sweetness of the world", she is the Lestranges' daughter, born in Azkaban, raised by Malfoys._

It seemed a nice day of the end of summer. For the Longbottoms, it was a wonderful day – they were just cured and released from St. Mungo's. Poor things. They did not know, alas, that Voldemort has prevailed, that Harry Potter and – less importantly for the wizarding world, more importantly for them – Neville Longbottom were dead since May. And they didn't know that the Lestranges were waiting for them, to finish them off – as ones of the last members of the Order of Phoenix.

The Lestranges wanted to play a little, since their prey had no wands. Cruciatus was only one of many spells they used, but anyway, it didn't take a long time until the Longbottoms finally lying dead at the Lestranges' feet. Rodolphus warmly hugged his daughter.

'And what, you do like this, my little Eagle?' he asked. Aquilla quickly nodded, smiling somewhat predatorily. Bellatrix was looking at the bodies pensively and reached for her necklace.

'You know what? I guess I'd visit my twin in the past' she said. Rodolphus nodded.

'You weren't then for a long time' he said. 'Feel free to stay as long as you want.'

Bellatrix replied with a short nod, shrunk the corpses so that they fit in her pocket and clutched on her necklace.

'Take me to my other half' she whispered and vanished.

'Dad?' Aquilla asked. Rodolphus stroked her hair.

'Yes, my little Eagle?'

'Where did mum go?'

'To London. To meet her twin sister.'

'Mum has a twin sister? I never met her?'

'This is a long story, little Eagle, I'll tell you on the way home. Rabbit? Are you coming?'

Rabastan nodded. He knew pretty well about Bella's squib twin.

_Victorian times, Fleet Street, London_

Bellatrix didn't have to seek long for her sister's pie shop. It was only morning, so the people weren't in there yet. The door was closed, so Bellatrix knocked, and when she didn't receive any response from her twin, she went down to the bakery.

'Nellie?' she called out, stepping in. 'Nellie?'

'Who's that?' she heard her sister's voice. 'Bella?'

'Yes!' Bellatrix ran further in the bakery, to see Nellie working on dough. She loved watching these hands in black mittens, kneading. But as Bellatrix came really close, her twin left the dough and came to hug her welcome.

'You didn't pay a visit for several months now' she said. 'I know you shouldn't get me used to, but… well…'

'Better tell me what's new' Bellatrix said, taking half of the dough to knead. Nellie took off her right mitten and wiggled her fingers. In the dimly lit bakery, a simple, golden ring quickly caught some light. Bellatrix smiled widely.

'Oh, congratulations, Mrs. Todd!' she exclaimed. Nellie shook her head.

'I kept the name Lovett. We were too lazy to repaint the sign.'

'Practical like always' Bellatrix nodded.

'And what's new at yours?' Nellie asked. Bellatrix gently stroked her abdomen.

'The family is growing.'

'Yours too? When?'

'February.'

'Ooh!' Nellie squealed. 'Ours too! Ours too!'

Bellatrix joined in joyful squeal. The sisters hugged once again. They laughed together.

'I brought something for you' Bellatrix said then. 'Something you asked me for.'

'Really?' Nellie's eyes shone bright as Bellatrix was taking the shrinking charms off the corpses. 'Oh Bella, you needn't have…'

'Didn't you tell me last time that you wanted to put some magic in your meat pies?' Bellatrix shrugged. 'I'll want to get four free samples from each of these though.'

'As many as you want, oh Bella, you know that it's me owing you, not the other way round…' Nellie said, her cheeks going slightly pink. She took the bowl with the meat filling and went on to form pies.

'What is it?' Bellatrix asked.

'Looked like a peeler. They are quite good, trust me.'

When three trays of pies were ready, Nellie carried two of them to the oven, Bellatrix helping with the third.

'You aren't afraid of the oven anymore?' she asked. Nellie hung her head.

'Least when I'm alone' she whispered. 'Bella… I can't thank you enough…'

Bellatrix couldn't say "it's nothing", because she knew it wasn't, so instead, she said:

'You know I'd do anything for you. When I think I could have been a second too late…'

'But you were in time, and this is important.'

_-flashback-_

Bellatrix had a sudden feeling that something could be wrong with her squib twin, so she quickly ordered her necklace to take her to Nellie. It was both better and worse than a time turner; better, because it didn't require all this turning, and worse, because there was only one place in time she could travel to: the hour when her twin was exactly the same age as Bellatrix.

Bellatrix wasn't surprised to appear in her sister's bakery; what did surprise her, was the man closing the oven, from which her twin screamed her lungs out. The Death Eater didn't hesitate for even a single while.

'STUPEFY!' she yelled, pointing her wand at the man. Then it took her just a second to open the oven with another spell and another to drag Nellie out. Her sister was severely burned, but nothing that a skilled witch couldn't manage with. Whispering incantations of healing spells, Bellatrix calmed herself down. No, she wasn't just losing her twin. No, Nellie – her Nellie – would definitely survive, without even a scar. She fainted, but it didn't worry Bellatrix. A while later, when she was done with the healing spells, she brought her sister round. Nellie looked at her.

'Bella…' she whispered. Bellatrix hugged her.

'Yes, Nellie, it's me, hush, hush, you are safe…'

'Am I alive?' Nellie asked. Bellatrix nodded.

'Look, you're still in your bakery. I won't let anyone harm you, never ever! Oh, Nellie… should I Crucio the one who did it to you?'

'No! Bella, please… I love him, I still do…'

Bellatrix nodded.

'Should I then make him forget he pushed you into the oven?'

'Yes, please… and could you also make him forget he recognized his wife in this dead woman over there?'

'Sure, Nellie, anything for you. Get rid of the body though before he wakes up.'

Nellie nodded this time and carried the dead Mrs. Barker to her table. She started cutting the meat while Bellatrix performed memory charms on Sweeney. Suddenly she heard some rustling.

'Stupefy!' she yelled, pointing her wand at the source of the rustle, which proved to be a little boy.

'He also saw something he shouldn't have' Nellie said. 'I don't want to exploit you though…'

'No problem, tell me what he should forget and consider it done… but first, I must finish with this one here…'

Nellie smiled to her crazy twin. Actually, they were both crazy, which made it easy for them to understand each other. She went on cutting the meat and throwing pieces into the grinder.

'Oops' Bellatrix suddenly said. Nellie dropped her knife.

'What happened?' she asked, truly worried.

'I… overdid it a little' Bellatrix gulped. 'By accident… I made him forget everything about his wife. My bad…'

'It's nothing' Nellie smiled. 'Maybe even better…'

Bellatrix nodded and went to modify Toby's memory. It didn't take a long time.

'You'd better take them both to their beds' she advised. 'You know, Nellie, so that they would wake up in quite natural places… I can help you, but guide me please…'

'Okay, let me grind it first though. You know, I've dreamed of putting a woman in pies once…'

'You must get me a sample… no, _three_ samples. I'll give two of them to Rod and Rabbit, you see…'

'What about your daughter? Aquilla?'

'She is at school. And with all these protections, I doubt if she'd get her meat pie. This caretaker would eat it, so it's useless.'

Bellatrix then levitated both the Stunned people to their beds. She noticed Nellie's purse left on her table. She transfigured it into her twin's favorite colors. Later she Rennervated Toby and Sweeney.

'Who are you?' Sweeney asked.

'I'm Bella, Nellie's sister' Bellatrix said. The barber frowned.

'Who is Nellie?'

'Mrs. Lovett. I thought you knew her?'

'We weren't on first name terms…'

'I'm sorry. Nellie found you unconscious and because I just came to visit her, she asked me to watch over you for a while. How do you feel, Mr. Todd?'

'Quite… okay. Where is Mrs. Lovett?'

'Down in the bake house. I told her I could help her with the pies, but she sent me up here instead, oh well, Nellie always was a lone hunter, proud to be independent, and never liking people watching her work… tell me Mr. Todd, does she still want to go back to the seaside?'

'Still? Back?'

Bellatrix smiled to Sweeney. The barber didn't understand why she was acting so cheerful and friendly towards him, but he smiled back: he was happy his revenge for fifteen years in a living hell was done.

'When we were young, we would spend every summer holidays at the English Channel. Nellie loved it, and wanted to come back and live there one day…'

Sweeney nodded thoughtfully. Bellatrix was still smiling.

'Nellie promised me some pies' she said. 'I must try them… check if they really are as good as mum's…'

_-end of flashback-_

'…it went quite smoothly then' Nellie said. 'We are planning to move to the seaside next June. Got married last April. How went Aquilla's OWLs?'

'Straight O's and E's. She's a smart girl…'

'Oh, I'm sure she is. I never doubted, after you and Rod. And the war? Is it finally over? For if it's not, then you should be out because of…'

'Don't worry. We won in May. Now it's only cleaning up, killing last enemies.'

'So Harry Potter is finally dead…'

'He is. I'm sorry I didn't get his body for you.'

'You did enough for me… no need to apologize. If not for you, I'd be dead already. You saved my life countless times. I can't thank you enough…'

'No need to thank me. We are sisters, remember? I'll visit you at the seaside and I'll take the whole family. You'll see Aquilla in flesh… is it just me, or does it sound a bit funny in here? _In flesh…_'

Nellie chuckled.

'I'll get to work with _this_ flesh for now, okay? Now, would be nice if you go upstairs. Sweeney doesn't know that you knew it since the very beginning…'

Bellatrix nodded and went up to the shop. She didn't need any keys, since she had her wand. She sat quietly in there, waiting for her sister to finish baking. She heard footsteps.

'Welcome, Mrs. Lestrange!' Sweeney exclaimed, seeing her. He was much more cheerful now when he was married again. Bellatrix smiled back to him.

'Nice to see you, Mr. Todd. Please, call me Bella… since we are family now.'

'So Nellie told you already? You saw her? I thought she was in the bake house all the time.'

'Ah, no, she heard me, so she came up to me. We had a pig slaughter recently at ours, so I brought some meat here, for Nellie makes best meat pies… I never had her talent, and I want my family to have a taste of a good meat pie. Nellie told me I'd only have to bring meat, and…'

'I understand. So how's it going in the countryside? Did you have a good harvest?'

'Ah, wonderful is a better word. Rod has these magic tricks, and this year was really good. I'm sorry we couldn't attend your wedding…'

'It was a very quiet wedding anyway.'

'But I have a gift for you two. Not very big, but still…'

Bellatrix reached to her bag and took out two small suitcases, one black and one red.

'This one is for you' she pointed at the black suitcase. Sweeney opened it and saw a huge set of barber accessories, of course he didn't know they were enchanted, but he liked them anyway.

'You knew I love it' he grinned. 'Well, one has never too many razors…'

'Agreed.'

Nellie came up with two paper bags and handed them to Bellatrix.

'Hope you'll enjoy these' she said.

'This is for you' Bellatrix pushed the red suitcase to her sister.

'Oh Bella, you didn't have to…'

'But I wanted. Thanks for the pies, Nellie dearest. See you later!'

_Own times of Bellatrix_

Bellatrix served the meat pies on two plates, Frank pies on one and Alice pies on another. She cast a little spell to reheat them.

'Help yourselves and see that my sis makes truly the best pies in London!' she said with pride. Each of the Lestranges took one of the pies. They bit into them.

'Oh mmyeah' Rabastan said, 'Bakwer cawweer is bwest fow youw sis!'

'Don't talk with your mouth full, Rabbit' Rodolphus scolded his brother. Aquilla suddenly stopped chewing and spat something on her hand. She looked at it. It was a fingertip.

'Anything wrong, my little Eagle?' Rodolphus asked. Aquilla threw the piece of flesh behind herself and went on eating.

'No, dad. Nothing at all.'

_Rodolphus calls Aquilla little Eagle NOT because she's a Ravenclaw but because her name comes from Aquila constellation, which is Eagle._

_Please review!_


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